The present invention is that of a new and improved apparatus for assisting a blind or visually impaired person in locating a shampoo bottle or other bottle located within a shower.
There are a wide variety of identification devices in the prior art that are used to identify an object using the sense of touch. One example is U.S. Pat. No. 1,662,469, issued to Palmer, which discloses improvements in safety harnesses for poison bottles, and more particularly relates to a casing or sheath, into which a bottle may be introduced and which furnishes a cautioning or warning signal of the nature of the bottle content. The casing or sheath provides a warning or protective casing, which may be fitted to bottles of different shapes and capacities and constitutes a complete envelope for the bottle that is readily distinguishable by touch or sight of the bottle.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,238,551, issued to Merklee et al, disclosed a means for distinguishing containers, bottles, boxes and the like, and has for an object the provision of an improved construction designed to be applied to said containers, bottles, boxes and the like whereby they may be readily distinguishable either in the dark or in the light. The construction of the label and guard is such that the same will cause a person to observe the label on looking at the bottle or other container, or in case of darkness, when at a person feels the bottle or other container, the special shape and make-up of the label will indicate that such container or the like has positioned inside poison, explosives, or some other matter of a dangerous nature.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,214,938, issued to Metcalfe, discloses a poison indicating attachment for bottles, and has for its object to provide a device of this character which embodies novel features of construction whereby a person will be warned upon gripping a bottle that it contains poison, thereby avoiding any possibility of the poison being taken by mistake or accident. This invention comprises a continuous strip of sheet metal which may come in a roll or the like, said strip containing a plurality of outwardly projecting prongs which may be conveniently pressed outward from the body portion of the strip. The metal strip is designed to be placed only around the neck of the bottle.
U.S. Pat. No. 889,394, issued to Newman, discloses an apparatus designed to warn a user of the contents of a particular bottle, which contains prick points, a stopper, and a wire fastened to the stopper and adapted to engage the prick points.
U.S. Pat. No. 541,133, issued to Valentine, discloses a four-sided bottle, which includes two substantially flat adjacent smooth side walls adapted for a label, and two substantially flat adjacent rough side walls roughened with warning projections.
U.S. Pat. No. 383,394, issued to Higgins, discloses a band that surrounds the bottom part of a bottle, and barbed sheet-metal strips extending upward from the band, the upper ends of the strips being held on the bottle neck by a band or cord, serving as a warning signal for a user if a bottle is grabbed in haste.
As can be seen from the prior art, much of the prior art has a potential to injure or infect a person grabbing a bottle with the various inventions located on them. The present invention eliminates that by providing a readily distinguishable object, while removing the possibility that the present invention will puncture a person""s skin. In addition, none of the prior art comes in a xe2x80x9cone size fits allxe2x80x9d which would allow a specific unit of that invention to be attached to a wide variety of bottles or cylindrical objects. Further, none of the prior art also has a feature of providing a more secure grip to a user who would grasp the object.
The present invention is that of a new and improved apparatus for assisting a blind or visually impaired person in locating a shampoo bottle or other bottle located within a shower. The apparatus would be a plurality of small adhesive tags attached to each other but allowing a user to separate them by incorporated perforations. Each of the tags would have a plurality of incorporated raised bubbles on its front surface. The back surface would include a peel-away backing, which would cover a sticky coating on the back surface of the small adhesive tags until the small adhesive tags would be ready for use. The present invention would preferably be placed on a shampoo bottle, allowing a user to identify the shampoo bottle by touch. Each bubble on each of the adhesive tags would be manufactured to include a micro-suction cup top-mounted on each bubble, providing the user with a more secure grip. The plurality of adhesive tags would be designed to come in a roll and would be packaged within a roll dispenser box, with the roll of adhesive tags connected to and surrounding a roller located inside the roll dispenser box. A roll dispenser box would include a slot opening to allow a plurality of small adhesive tags to be removed from the roll dispenser box and attached to a cylindrical object as needed.
It is therefore an object to the present invention to provide a new and improved apparatus to assist in the identification of specific objects for blind and visually impaired people.
It is another object to the present invention to provide a new and improved apparatus to assist in the identification of specific objects for blind and visually impaired people that is easily and efficiently manufactured.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a new and improved apparatus to assist in the identification of specific objects for blind and usually impaired people that is inexpensive to manufacture.
It is therefore yet another object to the present invention to provide a new and improved apparatus to assist in the identification of specific objects for blind and visually impaired people that operates by having a user use his sense of touch.
It is still another object to the present invention to provide a new and improved apparatus to assist in the identification of a specific shampoo bottle while a user would be bathing or showering, eliminating the possibility of said user using the wrong product on his or her hair.
It is still another object to the present invention to provide a new and improved apparatus to assist in the identification of specific objects for blind and usually impaired people that provides better gripping ability.
Other objects, features, and advantages of the present will become more readily apparent from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment when considered with the attached drawings and appended claims.